Family relations: the star and the palace

Family relations in Four Pillars of Destiny (BaZi) are the closest relatives: parents, spouse, children and siblings. The books find them in a chart in two ways: the star, the relationship to the Day Master that stands for a relative, and the palace, the pillar where that relative sits. Only the star and the palace taken together give the full picture.

Two ways of matching

The True Interpretation of Ziping (子平真诠; Qing dynasty, 18th century) opens its chapter on family relations by saying that a person’s relatives, too, are matched to the eight characters and held in the chart. It then gives two ways of matching them: by the position of the four pillars, and by the ten relationships. The first is the palace; the second is the star.

The True Interpretation of Ziping · On Matching Family Relations to Palaces and Elements

The star: the ten relationships

With the day stem as the reference, each relative corresponds to one family of the ten relationships:

The books explain why. Resource generates the Day Master, so it is the mother who gave birth. The Wealth stem that combines with the mother star is her partner, and so the father: Indirect Wealth for a yang Day Master, Direct Wealth for a yin one; the lesson on parents gives each Day Master’s stems. Wealth is what the Day Master controls and puts to use, so in a man’s chart Wealth is the wife. Authority is generated by Wealth; with Wealth as the wife, Authority is the children. The Friend shares the Day Master’s element, so it stands for siblings. A woman’s chart takes Authority, which controls her, as the husband, and Output, which she generates, as the children.

The True Interpretation of Ziping · On Matching Family Relations to Palaces and Elements; The Deep Sea of Ziping · General Discussion of Family Relations; Comprehensive Guide to the Three Fates · On Family Relations

One family can stand for more than one relative: Wealth is the father, and also the wife in a man’s chart. The books also match parents and children another way; see the lesson on parents and the lesson on children.

Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping (子平真诠评注; ROC, 1936) warns that this matching is a general guide, not to be applied rigidly; the palaces and what the chart favors must be weighed as well, so that nothing is distorted.

Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping · On Matching Family Relations to Palaces and Elements

The palace: the four pillars

其由宫分配之者，则年月日时，自上而下，祖父妻子，亦自上而下。

Our translation: Matched by palace, the year, month, day and hour run from top to bottom, and ancestors, parents, wife and children also run from top to bottom.

The pillars run from top to bottom, and so do the relatives: the year pillar is the ancestors, the month pillar the parents, the day pillar you and your spouse, and the hour pillar the children. Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping says a palace is taken on the branch: the day branch is the spouse palace, and the hour branch the children’s palace.

For parents, the books look at the year and month pillars together. Dripping Heavenly Marrow (滴天髓) says that whether parents prosper or decline turns on the year and the month; The True Interpretation of Ziping says that either a month branch with force or a year stem the chart can use points to parents who are a real help. So this series calls the year and month pillars together the birth family.

Siblings have no palace of their own; the books place them in the birth family. See the lesson on siblings, friends, colleagues and business partners.

The True Interpretation of Ziping · On Matching Family Relations to Palaces and Elements; Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping · On Matching Family Relations to Palaces and Elements; Dripping Heavenly Marrow · Parents; The True Interpretation of Ziping · On Wife and Children

Star and palace together

The True Interpretation of Ziping, on the spouse, says to look at both the palace and the star; on children, it says the method for palace and star is much the same as for the spouse. When the two point different ways, the star leads: if the spouse star helps the structure form, the spouse is often still a support even when the day branch is of no use. But a day branch struck by a clash is noted separately, and a good star does not erase it.

Whether the star, or what sits in a palace, is good is judged within the structure. The book says the structure taken from the month branch decides it: Wealth on the day branch does not suit a chart with a Resource structure, yet can be a strength in other structures. So set the structure first, then look at family relations.

The True Interpretation of Ziping · On Wife and Children

The closer the relative, the clearer the picture

The True Interpretation of Ziping says that what a chart shows comes through more clearly the closer it lies to the person. Spouse and children concern you directly and show clearly; ancestors and siblings show less.

The True Interpretation of Ziping · On Wife and Children

If you cannot find a relative’s star in your chart, it does not mean that relative is missing from your life. That relation simply does not stand out in this chart, and you can still look at the palace. Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping asks the same question, what to do when a chart has no Wealth or Resource, and answers that the chart must be weighed as a whole, without holding rigidly to one rule.

Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping · On Matching Family Relations to Palaces and Elements

What a chart shows about family relations is a set of tendencies: the help your relatives give you, and how smoothly you get along. It is not a verdict on any relative’s character or life.

Try it on your chart

1. Write down your Day Master. Using the table in the lesson on the ten relationships, mark the relationship of every stem and every hidden stem in the four pillars.
2. Using the first table above, find each relative’s star, and note whether it is revealed on a stem or is the main stem of a branch.
3. Using the second table, mark the palaces: the year and month pillars, the day branch, the hour pillar.
4. Write one line for each relative: whether the star is there, and where; which relationship sits in the palace, and whether the palace is struck by a clash or a punishment.
5. Then check against your structure: do the star and the characters in the palace help it, or harm it?
6. For the details, go on to the next four lessons.

See also: The ten relationships to the Day Master

See also: Chart structure starts from the month

See also: Parents in the chart

See also: Spouse: the star and the palace

See also: Children: the star and the palace

See also: Siblings, friends, colleagues and business partners